Inkjet printing systems form printed images by ejecting print fluids onto various print media. Such printing systems generally include multi-pass, scanning type systems, and single-pass, page-wide systems. In a single-pass printing system, an array of printheads extends the full width of a media page (e.g., cut sheet or media web), which allows the entire width of the page to be printed simultaneously. The array of printheads is usually fixed on a stationary carriage or print bar, and the media page is moved past the array in a continuous manner along a media transport path while an image is printed on the page. A complete image is often printed in a single printing pass. By contrast, in a scanning type printing system, a scanning carriage holds one or more printheads and scans the printheads across the width of a media page as the printheads print one swath of an image at a time. Between each print swath, the page advances in an incremental fashion underneath the carriage in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the scanning carriage.
With single-pass printing devices in particular, there is an image quality tradeoff to be made between image content that is primarily lines or text, and image content that is primarily graphics and area fills. In general, it has not been possible to provide the best image quality with both of these types of image content using a single print mode. This is because the printing techniques useful for optimizing the sharpness of line/text image content create undesired artifacts in color transitions and gradients of graphics and area fill image content.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.